making the leap to $5/10

Compared to just about everyone on the board, I'm small time. I've played a huge number of profitable hours of $1/5 7CS and figured it was about time to sack up and play $5/10 this weekend at the Taj. I anticipate a more aggressive game with stronger oppponents (no more old women calling to the river every hand to make that flush). Beyond that, can anyone comment on the differences in the two games and suggest any adjustments I may need to make to my game.

I'm in the same spot as you. Have played $1-3 no ante, then moved to 2-4 wi/ .25 ante $1 bring in on Paradise. Finally sat my first $5-10 a couple weeks ago at Mohegan Sun and found it no problem. I think there are three big differences:

First, some $5-10 games will have a number of very good players. That's much less often true at $1-5 or $1-3. But there are plenty of bad, passive, loose players at this level, too. So game selection is critical.

Second, the money may influence your play. At $1-3 or 2-4, throwing in a raise on a big bet street is routine. But when making the same play means putting in $20 instead of $6 or $8, it can be hard to do it, even when you know it's the right play. My solution to this was to take $300 from my bankroll, 30bbs, and allocate it to playing $5-10 for this trip. I consider that money an investment in learning to play this level, and force myself to bet and raise with it as I would in a smaller game.

One advantage of the larger $$ amounts is that they can make it easier to fold some players early with your overpairs.

3. The structure is different and influences plays. In CT, the ante is .50 and the bring in is $2. If your $1-5 game has no ante, then you have to start thinking in terms of stealing occaisonally and limping occaisonally with hands that would be folds with no ante. If your $1-5 game has a .50 ante, like the games in CT, you'll have to adjust the other way and steal/limp less due to the relatively small ante structure here.

The structured betting also changes things. I'm more likely to stick around on third and fourth for one small bet in this game with a live small flush draw or high straight draw, because when you hit you can bet on the big streets.

MRB - Your comments are valued. Took the trip last night and broke even in 5 hours of play (and this was with the WORST string of starting hands I've had in a long while - there was an hour long stretch where I couldn't enter a hand, 369off, 237off, I figured I was coming off as the tightest player alive and raised on 3rd with K showing and no help in the hole only to be re-raised and then capped behind me /forums/images/icons/frown.gif ) But overall, the table was entirely loose passive, always at least two callers on 3rd, never a chance to steal antes, probably atypical at $5/10. Raisers on 3rd were simply not respected. I completely agree that the change in limits could affect your aggressiveness - I also took the approach that I'll just try and make the right plays, if I lose, I'll chalk it up to learning experience. I think if was $15/30 and up, this would start becoming a little difficult for me.

One note - as I'm waiting for my game, 4 well dressed New Yorkers join the list for $1/5 stud and ask me sincerely (how do you play, are there community cards, do you play against the dealer, how much can you raise, and I spent 15 minutes trying to explain the game and structure) Then I started thinking, maybe tonight isn't the night to upgrade to $5/10, I can only imagine how bad they got taken. But overall, I still saw some pretty bad plays/players at $5/10, so the jump wasn't so bad.

Congrats -- you did better than I did in my first $5-10 sit. I lost about $70. But I had one monster beat, when I was dealt rolled, made a house in a four way pot and got beaten by a pair of queens on fifth that caught runner runner for a bigger house. Your story about the guys from NY reminds me of a 3-6 he game I sat in with two extremely nice guys who had never played he before. I was next to them and became their unofficial guide to the game. One had a slight clue and didn't play too badly. The other played almost every hand. The punchline is, he won several huge pots with holdings like 7-10 o. These guys were super friendly the whole time, just having a good time, saying how great poker was compared to table games cause you lost more slowly.